Safe Space

•Mom•

"Mom please stop!" I said. My mom and I have been arguing for days. Over everything. She picks at everything I do, good and the bad!
"All you ever do is ruin everything. I wish I would have listened to your dad and got that stupid abortion." She says stuff like this all the time.
"It would have saved us all a lot of time and trouble!" I said. She gave me the look she always does, I knew what was about to happen, She raised her hand over her head! I covered my face to soften the blow a little. I felt the sting of her hand making contact with my head. It didn't stop there, she kept going. Until I was bleeding. There is no use in fighting back, it just gets worse. I learned the hard way.

I slowly sat down on my bed, my body hurts so bad! Every move i make takes the breath out of me. Ever since my dad passed my mom has hated me. No matter what I do, she finds a reason to beat me! Or what she thinks is a reason! Her and her husband. Jason, that's his name. He is the one that started all the abuse. I hate him for that.

     I apparently ended up falling asleep last night. I woke up in a lot of pain. It's normal for me though. I rubbed my eyes trying to wake myself up. I got up out of bed and went to my closet to pick out an outfit. Everything in my closet is black, it helps me blend. Less people notice me! I grabbed my Yungblud shirt and a pair of black ripped jeans. I decided to put a stripped long sleeved shirt underneath it to. I have multiple styles. Egirl, soft, indie, I can never chose. I grabbed my skateboard from my closet and quietly made my way downstairs.
     First period class just started, english. My favorite. I love to write. Mrs. Jones has always been the nicest teacher to me too. I love her. I sat down in my assigned seat next to who they call "white boy carl." He's always been nice to me, but we have never said more than two words to each other. I did my normal head nod in his direction and he returned it. I sat down forgetting. I whined in pain as my back hit the chair.
     "Hey are you okay?" Carl said to me. Full of concern. I looked over at him.
"Yeah i'm fine. It was just a rough night last night." I said. No one knows about the abuse, and I don't plan on telling anyone. It would just make things ten times worse. He dropped it, thank god. I didn't want to come up with another bullshit answer.
"Okay everybody, we are going to be starting the book project." Mrs. Jones started passing out the rubric. "You will be in groups of two, creating a book. It can be however long of a book your heart desires. It can be about whatever you would like. Be creative. You can pick your partners, I can't wait to read your stories." She said. I grabbed the rubric starting to write down ideas. It's not due till the end of the year, so we have a long time considering first semester just started.
"Do you want to be partners?" Carl asked me. I looked over at him. I looked around the room at all my other options. Yeah i'll take Carl.
"Sure." I slid my paper over to him, Showing him my ideas. He read through them. "I wanted to do a look into my life, if that's okay. We can mix both of our lives. It will be one hell of a book." I said smiling. He smirked. I've heard about some of the stuff he has dealt with.
"We are going to have to spend a lot of time together." Carl said smirking.
"I guess we will." I said blushing. I've not very good at talking to guys, or people in general. The only person I call my friend is Jacob Samson. He has been my friend since birth.
     "We can hangout after school. We can walk to your house together." He said pulling out his phone. "Here put your number in here." I grabbed his phone and put my number in his phone.
     "Can't wait." I said.

     5 minutes until my last class of the day ends, i'm really nervous. I'm not very good at talking to people. Especially people like Carl. I felt my phone vibrate. I grabbed it and looked down.

maybe: carl: Hey it's Carl. I will meet you by the english room. Can't wait!
me: Okay see you then :)

     I grabbed my stuff off the desk putting it in my backpack. I said bye to Jacob, and walked out of the classroom making my way to the english room.
      "Well well well, look who it is." I heard the school bully say from across the hallway. I pretended not to hear him but he knocked my stuff out of my arms. "How bout you pay attention freak!" I looked at him in the eyes.
     "I have to be somewhere so please leave me alone." I said, trying hard to get him to leave me alone.
     "Oh do you now? What might that be, are you going to see your dad. Oh wait, he's dead." He said. My eyes started tearing up. My dad was my best friend. My favorite person. I can't believe he would even bring that up. "Awh did I hurt your feelings? Oh so saddddd!" He said mocking me. I put my head down, trying to walk away. He wouldn't let me. I pushed on his shoulder, and forced him out of my way.
     "You better fucking move Andrew!" I said, he moved out of the way and the tears started to come faster. I forgot to stop at the english room so when I passed it, I heard Carl calling my way. I just kept going. Once I got out side I went to my spot by the tree that no one else goes to. I put my head in my knees and tried to breath.
     "Riley." I heard from around the tree. "Oh there you are." There was a second of silence. "Riley what's wrong." Carl said sitting from across me.
"Andrew always makes comments about how my dad is dead. Like I don't already fucking know, I just miss him so much." I said. Hiccuping because I'm crying so much. I can't help it. When my dad was alive, life was great. Now it's not so much!
"He's just an asshole Riley, you can't let him get to you!" Carl said to me. I looked at him. I know that my eyes are bloodshot. I know I look rough, just by the way Carl is looking at me.
"It's not even about Andrew, it's just ever minute of my life dad isn't here sucks. I miss him." I said. I feel so stupid. I wiped my eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking stupid. Are you ready to go?" I asked him.
"You aren't stupid. I am so sorry for your loss. Yes I am ready to go!" Carl said. He grabbed my hand to help me up. He is about to be the only person to know my true life, and that scares the fuck out of me!